Additive manufacturing machines that form shapes and products layer by layer utilizing a plastic material are becoming increasingly affordable and therefore are increasing in use across all industries. Additive manufacturing machines are also referred to as 3-D printers as they utilize a plastic or otherwise thermally conformable material that is fed into a workspace to form a desired shape according to a desired design.
3-D printing machines use a filament made of plastic (such as PLA, ABS. Nylon, Polycarbonate) or other materials including waxes, clay blends, wood shavings, or metals (as just some examples) to print. The printers work by heating the filament to a molten/liquid state and the pressing them through an extrusion nozzle in a precise way allowing them to be made into specific shapes, patterns and forms resulting in a 3-dimensional product being made.
Over time and repeated use, as the extruder nozzle heats the plastic to a target temperature some material clings to inner surfaces where the remnant material repeatedly heats and cools, resulting in a crust that is effectively “overcooked” much like burning a pot on a stove. This crust can cause a variety of problems including clogging/blockage of the extruder and ultimately complete failure of material to pass through the extrusion nozzle.
Currently, most 3-D printing machines are not purged or cleaned to remove build-up of film, dirt, dust, environmental contamination, cross contamination or from regrind/recycled material added to the filament in the original filament manufacturing process. As a result, extruder heads and nozzles are currently run with no preventive maintenance or lubrication provided until they fail and are replaced. Failure of the extruder head, nozzle and nozzle orifice are further accelerated from the lack of any preventive maintenance and the resulting build-up of film, dirt, contaminants and remnants of poor quality filament materials.
Materials are not currently readily available in a useful form or format that provides cleaning, purging and lubricating 3-D printing machine outfeed components.